District-by-district details on property-tax breaks released

May 02, 2008

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania homeowners in most of the state’s 501 school districts now have more detailed estimates of the size of the first property-tax cuts they will receive from slot-machine gambling.

The state Education Department on Thursday released a list of estimates that were calculated based on the total share of gambling revenue each district will receive and the number of home and farm owners who have received county approval for the tax cuts. School districts will calculate more precise amounts to be reflected in the tax bills they will send out over the summer for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

A formula developed by the Legislature and the governor’s office calls for larger reductions to homeowners in school districts where property taxes are relatively high and incomes and property values are low.

The estimated amounts per homeowner range from $54 in the Dallas School District near Wilkes-Barre to $623 in the Chester-Upland School District near Philadelphia.

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Based on Census estimates, Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration has said 3.1 million home and farm owners outside Philadelphia would be eligible for the tax cuts. To receive a reduction, those taxpayers must have completed and returned an application from the county tax assessor.

Tax cut estimates were not available for 48 school districts because the department had not received information from them on the number of taxpayers whose applications were approved.

State officials said last month that Pennsylvania will distribute $612 million for the tax cuts — enough to reduce school property taxes by 10 percent. That could mean an average reduction of $169 for the owner of a home or farm.

Rendell on Thursday also renewed his call for lawmakers to adopt his proposal to boost state spending on public schools by $2.6 billion over the next six years — something he said was vital to reining in future local tax increases. Republican leaders have said the Legislature needs more time to study the idea.

“I am equally committed to ensuring that this year’s property-tax cut is not swallowed up by next year’s school tax hike,” Rendell said.

Slot machines were legalized in 2004 on the promise of tax cuts, and revenues helped expand a property tax and rent rebate program last year for low-income seniors.

The property-tax cuts will apply to eligible home and farm owners outside Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, residents will see a 5.7 percent reduction in the city’s wage tax rate in 2009, while suburbanites who work in the city will see a 5 percent drop in the wage tax rate they pay.